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Last Autumn, I found myself wondering, “How do I pack for a bike ride through Narnia?”. I had just been asked to sample a small section of the wonderful Oregon Timber Trail by my friend Gabriel. I packed a grocery bag full of Voile straps, my foul weather gear, a laminated local mushroom-foraging pamphlet, and prepared to step through the magic wardrobe.
Perthshire Gravel worked on this lovely project, titled Drovers:
“Filmed on the Drovers Trail, a new 331-km-long gravel bikepacking route in Scotland, ‘Drovers’ tells the story of the ancient drove roads, an important part of Scottish history, which inspired Scotland’s greatest writers like Burns and Scott. The new video from round the world singlespeed cyclist and film-maker Markus Stitz follows him on his adventure on the route, retracing the footsteps of the cattle drovers on their journey from the Cairngorms through the Tay Valley to Crieff, which became Scotland’s most important cattle market in the end of the 17th century.”
Remember the Temple Cycles Readers’ Rides post from two weeks ago? Well, that was a prototype for the brand’s Adventure Disc model. The UK-based company just announced the entire Adventure Disc lineup today, complete with a launch video which you can see above. There’s a lot going on with these models, so let’s take a look at the complete builds below.
Vancouver’s Landyachtz has been working on their AB1 bike for some time now. It’s an aluminum frame, carbon fork gravel bike that can roll on either 700x40mm or 650bx47mm tires. These bikes come complete with SRAM’s Apex1 kit and as you can see, have mounts galore. Stay tuned as we’re working on a project with Landyachtz that will include you, the readership!
See more details at Landyachtz.
What happens if you really like bikes and really like grilled cheese sandwiches?
The Far Quarter film explores the past, present, and future of rural Colorado through the lens of gravel cycling. We can’t wait to share the feature-length!
Remember that funky Sutra ULTD we teased a few weeks ago? Well, Kona has all the details on this drop bar touring bike up on their site now, including pricing and build spec. To start, if you just wanted to build one of these up yourself, the frame will set you back $599. Or a complete would run you $2399 with the specs below. The Sutra ULTD will fit a 29×2.25″ tire, comes with a Trans-X +RAD dropper installed and ready, as well as SRAM Rival 1 flat mount disc brakes. It dons a 69.5º head angle, a long wheelbase for added stability, and either a 74mm or 72mm BB drop depending on the size. All in all, the Sutra ULTD looks to be a very funky, yet highly functional touring bike from a brand that knows how to put together rad bikes. See more at Kona.
Frame Material: Kona Cromoly Butted
Fork: Kona Project Two Cromoly Disc Touring
Wheels: WTB KOM Light Team i27 TCS 2.0 29”
Crankset: SRAM NX
Drivetrain: SRAM Rival 1 11spd
Brakes: SRAM Rival 1 with 160mm front/160mm rear rotor
Seat Post: Trans-X Dropper +RAD Internal 31.6mm
Cockpit: Kona Road Bar/Kona Road Deluxe Stem
Front Tire: Maxxis Recon Race EXO TR 29×2.25″
Rear tire: Maxxis Recon Race EXO TR 29×2.25″
Saddle: WTB Volt
It’s not often you get photos like James’ in the Readers’ Rides email box. It’s not the bike shots I’m talking about either, check out that rider portrait! So good. Let’s let James describe his Temple prototype in his own words for this week’s Readers’ Rides…
… and it brought back the Rove LTD, which features GRX 810, the Rove Verso flat-mount carbon fork, butted tubing and more. The whole Rove lineup has a breakdown at Kona, so head on over to check it out.
Santa Cruz Bicycles’ entire lineup got color and build kit updates, including our two favorite bikes in their catalog, the Stigmata and Chameleon.
The Stiggy has five build kits, ranging from Rival 1 to Force AXS 2x and a new forest green and mint color option, starting at $3499. Over on the mountain side, the Chameleon has NX and SX build kits in 29er or 27.5+ wheels, starting at $1949.
See the full refresh at Santa Cruz Bicycles.
The Áspero was one of our favorite gravel bikes we reviewed in 2019 and this year, they stuck to their guns, keeping the same frame details and build specs but coating the frames in new colors and gradients. Check out our favs below. Which would you prefer to see covered in dust and sweat?
Like many brands, Lauf has decided to cut out wholesalers and retailers, and offer their products direct to the consumer. Check out all the details below in their press-release…
Rodeo Labs makes some of the most versatile drop bar bikes in the biz and their customers run the gamut of cyclists. Anytime I see one of their Trail Donkey 3.0 models in the wild, they’re always unique. From the kooky to the clean, Rodeo Labs owners take pride in their build kits and yes, even custom paint. One of their recent customers matched his paint and decals to his beloved FJ60, something I personally can understand…
Moots first introduced the Routt in 2014. Do you remember what gravel bikes were like back then? 15mm TA forks, 1x drivetrain had just picked up steam, 40mm tires were commonplace, and gravel races were just starting to catch on. Now in 2020, Moots has revamped the Routt family of their gravel bikes to fit the modern sensibilities of gravel riding and racing.
The ROUTT RSL will now fit a 45mm tire, has 3 bottle locations, and has been upgraded to the 3-D printed dropouts. The ROUTT 45 & ROUTT YBB now fits a 50mm tire, comes spec’d with shorter stems and wider bars.
Read all about these exciting updates at Moots.
What makes a bike an appropriate city bike? Commencal, known for their mountain bikes, just announced a flat bar “Fast City Bike”, built around SRAM’s Apex group, disc brakes, and rolling on an 6061 T6 aluminum frame. The FCB will fit 50mm tires too! So what makes this a city bike and not a gravel bike or a touring bike? That’s up for you to decide. At $1,099, the FCB is an interesting option for all three options! Check out more info at Commencal.
Ride Farr announced today two new framesets in their catalog. Known for their aero bars and other ultra-endurance accessories, these frames are a milestone for the brand. The Gravel Monster (GMX) aluminum frame ($695) and All Terrain Bicycle (ATB) steel ($495) frames were designed from the ground up, with bikepacking, and long rides in mind. The GMX features its own 483mm Axle-to-Crown steel rigid fork that is suspension corrected for 100mm 29er travel, while the ATB rolls on a steel chassis and 120/130mm travel. Head to Ride Farr to see all the details.
Longtime readers might recognize this bike. I first documented it in 2015. Unfortunately, when our server crashed, we lost the images from 2015-2016, so when I had the opportunity to re-document it, I had to jump on the opportunity. The frame was built by Ian Sutton of Icarus Frames. It was designed to clear a 45mm 700c tire, and yes, those are quick-release axles! This bike was ahead of its time in terms of “gravel bikes” and it’s still alive and well, now rolling under my bud Gideon Tsang who bought it a little while back. Gideon is a good friend of mine, going on 10 years. He’s a spiritual person, a counselor, and as much of a sage individual as anyone I know. Check out this piece he wrote for the Radavist about riding bikes and embracing the silence only found on self-isolating rides…
For this week’s Readers’ Rides, we’re featuring Steven’s own, self-built Slug gravel bike. This one is very detail-oriented so we’ll let Steven do the talking…
Here’s my bike, my only bike. After working in the Cycling industry for several years, I realized that I had far too many bikes, and I’ve subsequently sold off all but this one. The story of Slug is pretty random, and I’m not necessarily the one to tell it. I will tell you about the bike, however.
